Snow
by konnerkris
Summary: This is a cross over between 'Rise of the Guardians' and 'hotarubi no mori e' M/M
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

I love this part of the world. It is devastatingly beautiful. And after long months of mischief and the constant rejection of human interaction, sometimes it is nice to be alone. To be in a place where I can perhaps feel I am normal.

Although I remember this one time I was sitting on the branch of a tree, just over there. I was watching the gentle snow fall when out of the corner of my eye a young boy caught my attention. He was walking along a path, his saddle clad feet pressing foot prints into my perfect layer of snow. He didn't seem to be dressed for the cold water, apart from the scarf wrapped around his neck. But perhaps the most interesting about the boy's appearance was the cat mask that covered his face. It was white with a small yellow sun painted on the forehead and red whiskers painted on the cheeks.

I jumped from the branch I was sitting on to the next, following after the boy. Interested to see where he was going in the middle of the forest.

"You know, it's rude to be stepping in someone's freshly laid snow." I called cheekily out as I was wont to do.

The boy spun around a looked up, the black eyes of the mask he wore boring into my own.

"Did you just hear what I said?" I almost whispered, my heart slowly increasing at the prospect.

「すみません？」the words the boy spoke were in a language unfamiliar to me but he most defiantly replied to the sound of my voice.

I quickly hopped down for the tree and landed in front of or him, he was a little shorter than me and he wore clothes perhaps more suited for the summer. His hair stuck out at angles from behind the mask and was snow white, almost like my own.

"You can see me." I said, an uncontrollable smile spreading across my lips, "You can see me," I said again taking a step forward.

The boy took a quick step back and held up his palms in fount of him.

I froze noticing the way the boy had moved into a defensive pose, the smile fading from features. 「お前は人間なんだ？」The boy spoke but it was still just noise to me.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I said as calmingly as I could and held my own hands up, palms facing out in a sign of placidness. "It's just that no one has ever been able to see me before." I couldn't help the small smile that preceded.

The boy tilted his head to one side in a sign of confusion.

"Look I'm really not going to hurt you. I just wanted to introduce myself." I said, taking a further step forward. But this seemed to startle the boy, who ran behind a nearby tree. After a few seconds the cat mask pooped out from behind the trunk and the boy's gentle voice said 「俺が人間に触られると、消えってしまう。」

Not understanding the words he spoke I was at a loss as to what to do. Clearly direct contact was not going to work but I wasn't going to give up. This was the first person to see me in almost three hundred years.

I decided to go seat by a nearby tree, leaning my back against it, and wait for the boy to come to me.

After a little while the boy saw I wasn't moving and, imitating me, sat down by a tree not far from where I was.

For a long while we just sat in silence until I couldn't take it anymore. "I'm Jack by the way." I said.

When the boy just tilted his head in confusion I placed my hand over my heart, "Jack Frost." I said again, much slower this time.

"Jack Frost." The boy repeated.

"Yeah." I replied smiling. What's your name?" I said extending my open palm in his direction.

For a long while the boy just stared at me but then a soft voice said 「ギン」。

"Gin," I repeated out loud, and then "It's nice to mean you Gin."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

It was almost a year before I saw Gin again. Winter had made her way back to that beautiful part of the world again and I followed, bringing the soft snow that tuned everything white.

Gin was perched in a tree branch, wearing the same clothes as he did the last time we met except for the addition of a scarf, the cold of the air seemingly not bothering him at all.

Landing gracefully by the trunk of the tree I said, "Hey Gin, long time no see." to the boy.

"Hello Jack." The boy replied, his accent thick.

"You speak English?" I asked a little surprised.

"Friend teach me little English." the boy replied in broken words.

"Which friend?" I asked looking around.

"She not here." Gin replied. I felt that there was more to the explanation but it was hard to read his emotions from under his mask.

I jumped up and weightlessly perched at the end of the branch that Gin was sitting on. "why do you ware that mask?" I asked.

Gin shook his head, "I don't understand."

An idea came into my head and I reached out to take the mask from the boy but he flinched away and fell out of the tree, landing on his back.

I jumped from the branch with a cheeky laugh and a half-hearted apology and reached to help the boy up.

「触るな」Gin shouted and I froze.

"I'm just trying to help." I tried to explain, holding my hands up, palms out, in a gesture of placidity.

"I sorry." Gin said after a moment, more softly this time, "But if you touch I die."

"What." I asked as the boy got back onto his his feet.

"If human touch I, I die." Gin clarified.

I felt a small smile spread across my lips. "I'm not human." I said

Gin tilted his head in the way he was wont to do when he was confused. "You look human."

"So do you." I chuckled, "I'm a spirit." Gin shook his head, clearly not understanding.

"I make it snow." I clarified, touching the truck of the tree we had be sitting in and leaving a frosty handprint behind.

Gin placed his had where mine was and then quickly pulled it away.

"I want to see you." I said, moving for the mask again.

Gin stepped away.

"Trust me, you won't die." I left my hand stretched out in front of me, remaining still, and let Gin come to me. After a long moment Gin finally stepped forward and slowly raised his hand to meet mine.

Our finger tips brushed and nothing remarkable happened.

Except it was the first time I had been touched in almost three hundred years and the warmth of the boys had felt time sparks and I could help the grin that stretched across my face.

This time when I moved to remove the mask, Gin didn't filch away.

Underneath the mask was a young pale face with gentle eyes and a kind smile. In no way was it remarkable but it was the first in my memory that someone had looked at me and not through me and I could not stunt the rush in my veins and the stutter in my chest and I leaned in and pressed my lips to Gin's.

A moment later my actions caught up with my thoughts and I moved away with a blush.

Gin looked at me curiously and I said "Sorry I got a bit carried away. I've always wanted to try that."

Maybe Gin didn't understand but his lips curved into a smile and I thought maybe he had been craving touch as much as I had.

There was a whistle through the trees and I recognised withers class for me to be continuing my journey south. I said to Gin that I had to go.

"What language do you speak?" I asked before I left.

"Japanese." The boy replied.

"I'll come back next year." I said, "And, I'll bring some gloves to go with your scarf."

When I returned the next winter I had learnt enough Japanese to learn from the mountain spirits that one summer's night Gin had touched a human and disappeared.

I left the gloves I had bought for him at the base of a tree trunk and no matter how much winter called I never returned to that forest again.


End file.
